Pacojet - Warm Applications

JD_19616

I was wondering if there are any special precautions that one should take when using the Pacojet for "warm" applications. Is it absolutely critical that everything be frozen solid? Could warm preparations somehow damage the machine or blade? I have read that it can be used for pates, terrines, soups, grinding spices, etc however I've been unable to find any recipes. I'm imagining a scenario where the ingredients are rapidly being tossed around the canister and somehow make their way into the bearings of the machine, or perhaps the blade is somehow compromised due to an uneven texture in the beaker (vegetables vs. stock, for example).

Any help would be appreciated! Wishing everyone a stress free and delicious Thanksgiving! Thanks.

- JD

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merridith

I would love to hear this answer from Chris or Grant! I have a PacoJet but my understanding is that I have to buy the Coupe Set (another $400) in order to use it for unfrozen food, such as pate, tartar, etc. My understanding is that with the regular blade, if the food is not frozen, you risk breaking your blade. This does not make a lot of sense to me since there are many recipes in the PacoJet manual that ask you to packetize some ice cream or sorbet twice - very confusing???

JD_19616

Hi Merridith,

Not sure if this helps but I've done some more research and I think you can use the pacotizing blade with anything, warm or frozen, as long as it's uniform in texture. You're supposed to clean the pacojet with hot water so I assume a more fluid texture shouldn't compromise the machine at all... However, for mousses and pates and the like, I think you do need the coupe set. The pacotizing blade is designed for shaving, not so much for chopping, and I think it'd have trouble properly blending meats, nuts, etc.

On a related note, I've seen other recipes that recommend freezing in pint containers and then simply dumping the contents into a pacojet canister for processing. This seems contrary to recommendations that the contents of the canister be perfectly uniform throughout as it would introduce air pockets and an uneven surface, so it's possible the machine is less fragile than the documentation would lead us to believe.